There seems to be a firewall on the board - most likely with the provider (one.com) - if it isn't a bug or feature in newer versions of PHP. Worst case is that one or two links in the original post has been classified as spam or worse. The original poster (a friend) experienced it, and I did too. So I have deleted links - I may have to ask support at one.com or do some experimenting.

1. there is a difference between "decision makers" (read: politicians) and scientists. their pacing is out of phase too.

There seem so be national differences. In Sweden it seems less politicised than in Norway.

2. there is way too much politics and way too much DISS-information. my opinion is that its the scientists fault for not speaking louder and clearer...

I disagree. My experience is that politicians and their voters actively will not listen.
There are some excuses:
- I did not see any other opinions (either a lie or proof that the person is too feeble-
minded for the position in power)
- You were so bombastic that I could not take you seriously (but then the message was loud and clear, and the person in power did not bother to investigate further)
- You took so long to bring forward your message that I lost you (and the person in power did not show interest enough to ask for an accelerated message).

3. Link to article at calcalistech.com/

ctech/articles/0,7340,L-3800632,00.html

4. (Redacted)

5. (a hybrid sigh/rant)
6. Link to wikipedia coronavirus. I'd like to add "Common cold" - but IIRC it is a link in the coronavirus article.

Loud and clear criticism always (very few exceptions IMHO) goes down badly with people in power. They always react as if people opposing their decisions are enemies, when in fact they are helpers. I have seen some examples when I have stopped criticising, either by being just ignored or frozen out, by keeping my mouth shut after a particularly malign shouting session, or after leaving the place (if necessary by abandoning my present career), it regularly leads to their downfall because they make mistakes that I would have warned them against.

Politicians regularly run the blame game, and great parts of the electorate believes them and have their disgust of the elite experts strengthened. Repeated: They hear what they want to hear, and they find it more convenient to live by the directions obtained from gut feelings and sensational newsfeeds than from the knowledge gleaned from meritless studies of fragmented sources of boring facts.

Much can be done correctly by drawing on accumulated experience. The populists in power demand specific data from this specific situation - which cannot be had because they don't exist. So they can dismiss the experts and rule by panic and gut feelings.

Actually, because of hard-working Chinese and Koreans, we already have specific knowledge with adequate denominator data.

In the treatment of sexually transmitted diseases, finding contacts is important in order to limit spread or even eradicate the outbreak. If only a few are treated, they will be reinfected. So ping-pong infections are a risk.

If society is completely shut down and not all infections cleared, there will just be another new outbreak, feeding on those who were not infected in the first one.

So the task will be: Keep health as good as possible to be able to withdtand the infection, and have capacity and availability of health care to take care of those who develop severe disease.

The US is heading for a bad experience unless they immediately reform the health care system into European standards with health insurance for all. Unlikely that Trump will do that - though he is unpredictable enough. So let's see.

e: The US is heading for a bad experience unless they immediately reform the health care system into European standards with health insurance for all

Well, in the opinion of most Europeans (even the ones considered as conservative here, which would compare to... like democrats in the US) the US health care system does not earn its name, anyway. I read about the case of a teacher suspected to be infected in the early days of this coronavirus thing and had herself tested voluntarily. She got a bill like about 10k USD. Her health insurabce had special tariffs and only paid like 2.7k USD and she ended up with 75$ to be paid by herself. How ridiculous is this!?
All she wanted was preventing anyone else from being infected (which would not only be sensible, but also a lot chaper to the system as a whole).

And, citing a hotel employee in New York last year, speaking to me about Trump: "He's a clown!"

Hell, yeah, sure he is. He was elected nevertheless. The best we can hope coming from this crisis is that it will cost his head in the next elections. Maybe it will, now that even the Russians seem to have left his side.

a different set of answers is forthcoming to a city near you - maybe try not to be there. As an intellectual exercise, of course; hypothetically and physically be thee not in or near or upon the upcoming riots.

gosh there sure were a lot of bat-soup varieties that all at the same time zoonotically emerged in one city in china. did they post all those different bat soup recipes to youtube you think? looks like patient zero was actually 8 patient zeros all in a "see food" market in wuhan.

Btw, I *do* trust the numbers published in Germany, France, Switzerland, Norway or elsewhere in Western Europe. Of course, there's a margin of error more or less large, depending on the situation and the availability of tests and the measures in that specific country etc. But at least I'm pretty sure that no official agency will voluntarily publish false numbers, at least not on a larger scale (i. e. local authorities might try to, but no "Kanton" (Switzerland) or "Land" (Germany) would.

please find the zoonotic source for this gain-of-function inclusion ( hint - you won't find it outside of animals that aren't infected with full coronachan - there is no endemic wild source for this individual trait ) and ( ignoring the non-existent endemic origin ) calculate the odds of the multiple gain-of-function clades that coronachan exhibits simultaneously combining all at once in a bowl of bat-soup. if you can show your work, play the lottery and buy the dips.